Who I Love
by skyclaw441
Summary: Misty comes by Ash's house for a visit, and the discussion eventually moves to who one another loves. AAML, oneshot.


I was up late last night and decided to write this oneshot quickly. This song was inspired by listening to the radio in the car last night, and hearing a few good love songs on various stations. Now that I'm fully awake, I'm not exactly sure if this is publishable. But I'm going to try it, anyway. So, without further ado...

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Who I Love

skyclaw441

Ash Ketchum sat down at his computer chair, still groggy, as he'd just woken up from a short nap. Well, if you'd call two hours short. Ash had fallen asleep just after an early dinner, at around 5 P.M. It was now 7:00 PM. He had gotten home from Pewter City to visit the gym up there for a while, and he was terribly tired from the trek back. He'd fallen asleep right after dinner, literally crawling into his bed and falling asleep immediately. And now, he'd woken up, it was dark, and he couldn't get back to sleep. Thanks to the sun setting earlier in winter, he couldn't even tell what day it was now. He looked at the clock on his computer.

"Asleep for only two hours?..." he groaned to himself. Time at home tended to do that to him. He rubbed his eyes as they adjusted to the screen which pierced the darkness of his room. Feeling a draft, Ash went to put a shirt on and returned to the computer. He unlocked the computer's password protection, and he went to surf the web for a bit.

Time passed as he checked up on news, the latest Pokemon discoveries, and watched a couple videos on YouTube. Things were pretty much going normally for him on a winter night at home. He would sit there after doing the day's errands, be online for a bit, then go to bed. But something kept nagging at him, and it made him feel so, so-- anxious, sad, lonely...

The memory of her tore at his heart. He talked to her on the phone or on instant messanging every once in a while. But she hadn't been on for days. She hadn't been around to answer the phone. He hadn't seen her in person for a good few months now. And the fact that he was without her made it so much worse, so much more painful.

He sighed deeply and opened up his pictures folder. He went to a very special picture that he kept. It only made his heart hunger more, but it was all he had left of a memory of days past. He went to a picture, and clicked to open it. And onto the screen popped a picture of Misty Waterflower. He gazed at the picture, looking into her green eyes on the screen. The emerald green eyes. The computer screen failed to capture their beauty. They made his heart beat faster. He remembered her brilliant orange hair, her high voice. He even missed her hot and flaring temper. He looked down at the floor, thouroughly depressed and lonely now. This was the only way he could see her and be with her, this image on a computer screen. Ash exhaled deeply and got out of his computer chair. At first he couldn't get to sleep. Now, he couldn't wait to go back. He crawled into his bed, not even bothering to put his computer on standby or turn it off.

He turned over in the bed after removing his shirt and discarding it by throwing it in a corner of the room. He snuggled into his covers. Winter was always cold at night, indoors or outdoors. It depressed him miserably. His heart ached in his chest as he laid there. He thought he might cry himself to sleep. He wanted her so bad. He couldn't stand another day without her. Why did he have to leave her? And she him. Oh, it was no matter, it was just destiny doing it's work. But why did destiny have to be so foul to him? He laid there, and let sleep begin to overtake him very slowly. He lost himself in a train of thought, thinking about the one he loved until he was to sleep, for maybe he'd have a dream about her. There was a sudden, sharp knock on the door.

"Ash?" his mother called. It nearly startled Ash to death.

"Whoa!" he said as he jumped up as a reaction to the sudden knock. "Yes, mom?" he asked.

"You have a visitor at the door," she told him.

"A visitor?" he wondered to himself quietly. He climbed out of bed, putting the shirt he'd taken off back on. He was still wearing his jeans. He opened the door to see his mother.

"Who would visit at this time of night?" Ash asked as he began to walk down the stairs.

"It's only 7:30," his mother replied.

"Oh..." he said. Stupid abnormal sleep cycling. "Well who is it?" he asked as he reached the bottom of the stairs and began to make his way to the front door.

"She said she wanted to surprise you," his mother replied as she followed him down the stairs, and went back to her room.

_Surprise me? What would want to surprise me, especially at this time of night?_ Ash asked himself. _Probably May or Dawn dropping by to say hello_, he thought. He made his way to the door and opened it. When he saw who was at the door, his jaw nearly fell off his face.

"Hi, Ash," Misty greeted him sweetly.

"Misty... uh... hi," he greeted her awkwardly. "I didn't know you were coming over," he said.

"Well, that's why you couldn't get me on the phone, I was on the way here to say hi," she told him.

"Oh, thanks," he said, laughing slightly. "Hey, you look like you're getting cold out there. Do you wanna step inside?" Ash asked.

"Yea," she replied. Ash stepped back from the doorway to let her in, and she removed her shoes.

"Well, do you want to sit down, grab a drink?" Ash asked, his heart nearly pounding out of his chest. He'd nearly hit the doorway on the way into the house. And not as a result of the dim light, either.

"No, thank you..." Misty replied as she made her way to the couch to sit down. She set her backpack down, and sat on the couch.

"Well, alright..." he replied as he went into the kitchen briefly to grab a drink of water. He felt unusually hot. He must have been red as a beet. "Well what brings you here?" Ash asked as he emerged from the kitchen with his water in a coffee mug.

"Oh, I don't know..." Misty bluffed. "Just wanted to check up on you and see how you were doing. I had a bit of spare time on my hands, and I just thought I'd pop by," she told him.

"Oh really?" Ash asked as he took a drink of the water. "How long did it take you to get here?"

"Five days." she replied.

The conversation went on like this for some time. Ash sat down in an arm chair, and he talked with Misty about their latest activities, discoveries, victories, etc. It eventually came to be more casual. The weather came up. Pikachu's recent... erm... reproductive urges... came into play. Time dragged on, and the discussion progressed. Discussion about Brock, and his lousy luck with girls, eventually arose.

"So then... he chased after her for another few blocks," Ash said giggling. Misty by this time was also laughing. "She turned around, and gave him the old five-finger shilehegle, right to his groin." he recalled, bursting out laughing. Misty did the same.

"Wow, talk about lousy luck. Poor guy," she commented.

"This why we need you around, you always got a hold of his ear. I used to think that that was mean of you, but I guess now I see that it prevents him from being in a world of pain," Ash commented. Misty chuckled.

"Well, I wonder, how's your luck with girls going?" Misty prodded him. Ash all of a sudden looked real serious.

"Well, I never really... I don't... I'm not a girl chaser... but there's..." he began to stutter. Misty gave him a look.

"There's what?" she asked him.

"There is this one girl I like..." he said quietly, looking away. His face began to turn red, and he looked away.

"Ah, one girl?..." she asked. "And who might this be?", she prodded.

"It's none of your business!" Ash snapped.

"Come on, who's the lucky lady?" she asked him, enjoying his reaction.

"I told you, none of your business!" he told her again. "Well, I'll ask you then, what guy do you like? Who are you dating these days?" he asked, a bit irritated.

"Well, I do like someone, but I never asked him out," she said casually. "Besides, he'd definitely say no."

"Well, that's too bad..." Ash commented. "The girl I like would probably hit me," Ash told her. Hey, it was the truth. Misty would give him a good old smack.

"Well, I'll help you out," Misty said. "It's all about how you ask her." She said. "Misty picked up her bag, set it on the floor, and scooted over on the couch. She gestured for Ash to take a seat. Somehow managing to fight a massive lump in his throat that had formed and walk on his shaky knees, he came over to sit on the couch. Misty looked over at him.

"Now, I'm not going to ask the name of her, just describe her," she told him. Ash took a deep breath, and thought for a second. He couldn't hint at all, not one bit. Trying to find the most ambiguous of all traits, he began his description.

"Well, she's tall. She's got kind of a fiery temper..." he began to explain. Misty grinned.

"Into fiesty ones these days, huh?"

"Sure..." Ash replied. "Well, she's... um... she's a trainer," he began. "She... lives in northeastern Kanto. She would likely as soon kick me in the shin than to accept my invitation. And that's about it," he told her.

"Well, are you so sure she'd reject you?" she asked.

"Well, yea..." he replied. "She's... unreachable. I mean, she's gotten a lot nicer, but I still don't know..." Ash trailed off.

"Well, how about this?" Misty told him. "Just wait for a little bit. Maybe she'll eventually grow to like you," she told him. "Just don't steal their bike," she told him. They both laughed.

"Well, that's the problem. As of now, I have no time. It's like I have today only for a chance, and tomorrow it'll be gone," he told her. And it wasn't a lie. She'd probably leave in a bit, if she wouldn't take the spare room upstairs.

"Well, I don't know..." she replied. "She is hard to reach, it sounds like. Well, I'd say take your chance while you can. Just ask her casually," she replied.

"Alright..." Ash exhaled. He knew he couldn't take the chance now, since he was talking about her, and to take the chance now would be to literally to confess to her right then and there. He quickly diverted the subject. "Hey, this guy you like, what's he like?" he asked.

"Well..." she began. "He lives in southern Kanto. He's so headstrong and stubborn that it's adorable sometimes. He's a pretty good trainer, and has defeated a leauge or two," she told him. Ash perked slightly. He'd heard this all before, it sounded a bit like him. _She picks guys like her friends_, he thought.

"Well, if you were to ask him out?" he asked.

"I don't know... he might accept. I just worry that I'd come on too strong. I mean, when I talk to him, it's like I fight with him half the time," Misty said. "I'm probably saying too much about him..." she said, realizing that she'd give the hint that the person she liked was Ash if she kept talking so candidly for so long. Ash, on the other hand, was inturiged by what he'd heard, as the description had become eerily familiar. It's like he'd met the guy, or knew him real close.

"No, no, go on. I want to hear more," he told her. "I want to hear more about this guy," he told her. "What does he look like?" he asked her. Misty exhaled deeply, thinking of a way to describe Ash without completely giving him away to himself. It helped that he had stereotypical traits.

"Well, he has black hair..." she began. "Brown eyes, stands about 5' 10" or so. He's... well... I've never seen him without a shirt, so I can't say a body build type. But, that's about it," she told him.

"Wow, your typical guy..." he exhaled. _Holy crap, that was him. Then again, that could be almost anyone. But how many people were "good trainers that had beat a league or two?" _he asked himself. He started at the floor in wonder, surprise, and near shock. Could it be him? He was nearly sure. What should he do? Misty spoke up.

"Hey, what's the girl look like?" Misty asked. "Is sure pretty?" she asked. Ash pondered how he'd respond for a second or two. Then, a voice came up in his head.

_"I'd say take your chance while you can."_ He decided to do just that.

"Prettiest thing I've ever seen," he began. "Bright orange hair, emerald eyes, long and slender legs," he began to tell her. "And she... loves water Pokemon, and she has three sisters..." he continued, his heart nearly beating out of his chest. Misty stared at him. "Her name starts with an M..." he continued. He knew that at that point, there was no turning back. "And she's sitting right here..." he trailed off.

Misty was in shock. She stared at him, her mouth gaping open. She had no idea what to say. Ash looked away, in embarrasment. He'd taken his chance, and he'd failed. He put his head in his hands, his elbows on his knees. The room was silent for a bit. Misty then spoke up.

"Well, I'll tell you something about who I like..." she began. "No, I'll show you..." She took his hands, and held them. Ash lifted his head up. Misty leaned in. And with that, the kiss was sealed.

"I love you..." Misty told him. Ash nearly broke down.

"I love you too."

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XD. Mushy endings are so sappy you can barely stand them when you write them. I know, I know. This really wasn't good at all (more like one of the worst I've ever written), but what do you expect for something I jotted down real quickly? This is now my fifth AAML oneshot, so I'm pretty surprised that what started as a notebook fanfiction while in bored and depressed in class allowed me to write this many. Anyways, please review, I always appreciate feedback. The more reviews, the better. Thank you very much for reading, I'll catch you guys later.


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